Ist of...

It's December 1st - Christ, (no pun intended) where has this year gone? It has went so much quicker than last year and that pretty much zoomed by. This year has been a pretty big year for me, in loads of different ways and I am 17 this month! Woo! Anyway this day means:

* 1st door of advent calendar :D

* Xmas decorations go up

* Countdown to my birthday starts - 19 days to go! (even though I'm not doing anything special)

* Countdown to Christmas day starts - 24 days to go!

So in celebration of this little day, I'm doing 1st place (of everything I can think of at the moment) of things for the festive period. Join in too on your blog or in the comments below. I would love to see what you choose :)

Christmas song.... Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas

This song has such a lovely meaning to it and is definitely one of my top favourites. Some people don't like the modern one but I do as well!

Christmas advert.... Coca Cola

This may be an old advert but it never gets old for me. Every single year I've loved it. And, the truth is when this first comes on the TV you know it's nearly Christmas.

Chocolate.... Terry's Chocolate Orange

This is seriously one of the best types of chocolate to eat year round but especially at Christmas time!
Favourite board game.... frustration
This was quite hard but I love this game. I love a game of monoploy too though!

Christmas film.... The Snowman + The Grinch

I absolutely adore these films. I used to watch The Snowman year round when I went to my grandmas and Walking In The Air (also another fave song) would send me to sleep! So that's why I have the song by Aled Jones above. This film is so good and I think it's amazing how it has no words. And, The Grinch is just brilliant :)

Favourite part of xmas day.... Christmas dinner (well it's lunch but I call it dinner :D)

It's a Sunday dinner with extra food - and an extra twist: you get to pull crackers woo!

Favourite drink.... Bucks Fizz
I love this with my christmas dinner. Sorry but I ain't a fan of baileys :(

Can you think of any other festive things? Let me know, and I'll do them too :P

Is It Acceptable?

Okay so guys, is it acceptable to start listening to Christmas songs yet? It might seem like a silly question but I don't want to start to early right? The reason I ask is because I wrapped up my first lot of xmas presents for friends and family and whilst my iPod was on shuffle Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas came on. Instead of skipping Christmas songs which I've done all year I didn't! I was feeling festive and wanted a little sing song to such a well known crimbo song.

But should I allow myself to start listening to them more regularly and not skip them. Or should I just wait for December or until it least starts snowing (cos it probably will at this end of this month like last year) Are you getting ready for Christmas yet ad been present shopping yet? I was pretty ruthless the other night and got over half of the presents I was going to get. Go me!

Tan!

I've had a great holiday away. During the time I've been away, I've been staying at my mam's friends house in Devon and been camping in Cornwall. The weather down south was lush! It was sooo hot and I've got myself a nice little tan - especially on my lower arm = result :) Devon and Cornwall are beautiful places and here are some lovely photos to share with you all. We stayed in St. Ives in Cornwall while camping but also visited the surrounding areas - Hayle, Lands End and when in Devon we stayed in Sidmouth but went to Tipton and Perranporth along other little stops. We also walked along the Pebblebed Heaths in Devon - seriously such a lovely place!

St. Ives

My twin brothers with pirates at Lands End

Lands End

Lands End Sign

Lands End

Hayle Beach - this photo does not do it justice! It was a beautiful beach!

Pebblebed Heaths

I'm Off...

... well not unitl Monday morning but I thought I'd do a quick post to say cheerio! I'm off to Devon then Cornwall then Devon again for ten days (I think!) I'm coming back just before results day - aghhh so nervous! Anyway, recently I've been reading the Harry Potter books - yes I know, finally! - because I'm such a fan of the films. I read the first three books online, which actually wasn't as bad as I thought but I've decided that I'm going to read the rest in the form of an actual book as they're obviously getting longer. So, today I popped up to my local library to see if I could get the fourth and fifth books (my neighbour has lent me the sixth and seventh) but they were out of stock. Damn!

As I'm such a bookworm, I decided to get some more book to read and take a few away with me. I kinda got six, which I'm hoping I'll be able to read before the time limit's up or I'll have to get an extended date. But no fear, I'm going to see if my neighbour can ask her daughter for the fourth and fifth Harry Potter books. Fingers crosses because they're so addictive and I love learning more than the films tell you! The following books that I got from the library today:

Whispers of Love - Rosie Harris

The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

The Summer of the Bear - Bella Pollen

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

I've wanted to read a couple of these for a while so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into one tonight. I'll let you know how each of the books have turned out when I've finished reading them. There's loads of different genres in this little selection. Anyway, I'm going to leave you as I'll be packing tomorrow and setting off first thing on Monday and I'll see you I get back - hopefully with good GCSE results!!

Paris: Part 4

This is my final installment of my holiday to Paris. These photos are from when I went to Walt Disney Studio's in Disneyland. We had got sick and tired of waiting in loads of queues after our previous visit to Disneyland two days earlier so we didn't go on many rides. However we went on a really great tour: Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic. I won't say anymore but it was surprisingly really good!! We also seen an amazing car stunt show. I'm not that interested in cars and I wouldn't be able to tell you the difference between a Volvo and a Mercedes (two car names I just picked out of my head) but the stunts were very impressive!

Wendy, Peter and Tinkerbell!

The Toy Storey Parachute ride, which I wanted to go on but no one would go with me - Oh well :(

Part of the Studio Tram Tour - this is actually a set from a film. How real does that look!?

Paris: Part 3

After I went on the Eiffel Tower, I went on a boat trip on the River Seine which lasted an hour and a half. It was so hot for the first half as we were on the side of the sun shining down on us until the boat turned around. The boat trip began at the Eiffel Tower then stopped at these places: Musee d'Orsay, St-Germain-des-Pres, Notre Dame, Jardin des Plantes, Hotel de Ville, Louvre and finally Champs-Elysees before returning back to the Eiffel Tower and starting its journey all over again. I really wanted to get off in Notre Dame as you could get off at each stop and then get back on the boat when it next came around but unfortunately we had to get back to the car so my dad could get on the roads before dark. He didn't fancy getting lost in Paris and in the dark!

Boat trip sign - if you want to take a boat trip in Paris, I recommend this one!

The Eiffel Tower from the boat dock where we got on

Me and my brother Daniel

Notre Dame Cathedral from the boat

Moving away from Notre Dame

Paris: Part 2

In 2009, I went to Paris with my school and we went up the Eiffel Tower - the second level. When I went last week, I went back up (to the second level again as my mam and dad didn't want to go all the way to the top!) and it was great because this time it was really sunny. (Last time the sky was a little cloudy) Anyway, after not giving up after standing nearly two hours in the queue to get the tickets we went up and here are some pictures to show you!

*All photos are my own*

This is a pretty little waterfall just outside the Eiffel Tower.

The East Pillar which we went up.

These photos below are of the view from the second level - in all directions. Some are zoomed in, some not. I'll let you know which ones! These are only about half of the ones that I took - I went overboard snapping pictures of the day I went into Paris....

Zoomed in.

Also zoomed in.

This is the Arc de Triomphe. This one is zoomed in as it was absolutely tiny and you could hardly see it from how high up I was.

Another zoomed in view.

Pretty impressed with the photo that I took above - not edited either.

Paris: Part 1

I took loads of photos when I went to Paris last week but I'm obviously not going to post them all on here. We travelled down on Monday and got the Channel Tunnel over to Calais from Kent on Tuesday. On the Sunday we travelled back home so I spent a total five days there. Half of Tuesday was spent sorting out our cases and looking around where we were staying, two days were spent in Disneyland Paris, one day in Paris and the remainding day was spent around the site we were staying at. Here's the first lot of photos from the car travelling downwards and some of the big park at Disneyland.

*All photos are my own*

Me and Ben who's pulling quite a scary face!

Me and Daniel

 Disneyland Paris entrance

 Sleeping Beauty's castle

 Disneyland Parc entrance

 Me and my twin brothers

 Ship outside Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Pirates of the Caribbean skull!

My brothers got a photo with Mickey Mouse!!

Untitled

This is just a quick little post to say that I'm back from Paris. I got back late last night and I thought I'd pop onto here today. I haven't uploaded any of my pictures of my holiday to my laptop yet but as soon as I do I'm going to post them on here. I'll be back with a proper post tomorrow!

Au Revoir For Now!

As you may have guessed, I'm off to Paris tomorrow. My many posts telling you may just have gave that away :) Well technically because we're driving down south to get the eurostar across I won't be in France until Tuesday. I can't believe how fast it has came around.

I hope my camera will be good to me and let me take some decent photos so when I get back I can post them on here. I was really excited a few weeks ago then on Saturday it just didn't really feel like I was going and I wasn't that excited but I'm looking forward to it now! I'm getting all packed today and then I'm off early tomorrow. So, i'll be back soon...

Au Revoir x

P.S. I was really excited on Thursday when I found out that I had got tickets for the sunday of Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle! I just couldn't believe it when I found out that out of about 800,000 people registering all together for either the Saturday or the Sunday that I was one of the lucky 10,000 who got a ticket for the Sunday. So as I got two tickets, I'm off there in May with my friend Sarah. Ahhhh, I can't wait!! :)

The Main Stage Line Up for Sunday is:

Lady Gaga

My Chemical Romance

Bruno Mars

The Script

Taio Cruz

Katy B

Professor Green

Olly Murs

The Wombats

Plus loads of others including Two Door Cinema Club and Noah and The Whale!! :)

Time to Smile - #131-140

Title: Time to Smile #131-140

Weekly Post Day: Wednesday

Details: This is my weekly wednesday post which will feature five things each week which I love, make me happy or make me smile. Mostly all three! Hope you enjoy :)

(You can find the others in the tab above)

I'm happy to say that Time to Smile is back! I missed the last two weeks of posting my Time to Smiles and this time next week I'll be in Paris so I won't be here to post. So today's Time to Smile are French themed as I'm going to Paris! Plus it's a double whammy with ten instead of five as I'm not here next week. I'm so lucky to say that is my second time that I am travelling there. Enjoy! :)

131. The Eiffel Tower

132. Croissants & French Bread

133. Classic Disney films

134. Minnie & Mickey Mouse

135. Souvenirs

136. The detail of French Architecture

137. French Streets

138. The Smell of Bakeries

139. Knowing French

(even though I have studied it for five years, I am no where near fluent or good enough to speak it confidently)

140. Waking Up In A Foreign Place